Welcome to The Queensberry Rules’ annual year-end awards, starting today and continuing throughout the week. Here’s how we do it around these parts:

The major categories are Round of the Year, Knockout of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year. The final day is a pu-pu platter of awards ranging from Trainer of the Year to more frivolous topics.

On the first day of each category, I give five finalists, with video and/or relevant info. You tell me if my finalists and honorable mentions are lacking, and give your vote on who you think should win. Maybe you sway me to adjust the list, and maybe you sway me on the eventual winner. On the second day after a category is introduced, I give that winner and explain why. (There are no major fights left in 2010, but we reserve the right to change our category winners if something crazy happens.)

So, today: Round of the Year and Knockout of the Year candidates. Tomorrow: Round of the Year and Knockout of the Year winners, and Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year candidates.

Your five finalists, in chronological order:

Mikkel Kessler – Carl Froch, Round 12

Both men knew they needed it. Both men fought like it. (poor quality clip)

Floyd Mayweather – Shane Mosley, Round 2

No one had ever hurt Mayweather that badly. Buildings rarely get any louder than the MGM Grand was when Mosley tore into him. (highlight clip)

Hugo Cazares – Nobuo Nashiro II, Round 12

These two got to know each other pretty well in their two fights. It showed in round #24.

Juan Manuel Lopez – Bernabe Concepcion, Round 1

Lopez was going in for the kill. Concepcion had a surprise waiting.

Juan Manuel Marquez – Michael Katsidis, Round 3

Marquez was in bad shape after he got dropped. But if you thought that was the end, you haven’t paid attention to the man’s career. (poor audio clip)

Your honorable mentions, in no particular order:

Giovani Segura – Ivan Calderon, Round 4

Joseph Agbeko – Yonnhy Perez II, Round 6 (highlight clip)

Amir Khan – Marcos Maidana, Round 10 (partial clip)

Ricky Burns – Rocky Martinez, Round 10

Said Ouali – Hector David Saldivia, Round 1

Ramsey Luna – Rene Luna, Round 2

Rocky Martinez – Gonzalo Munguia, Round 3

Antonio Escalante – Miguel Roman, Round 8 (highlight clip)

Juan Manuel Lopez – Rafael Marquez, Round 4

Mike Jones – Jose Soto Karass, Round 2

Bernard Hopkins – Jean Pascal, Round 12

Oscar Andrade – Ramon Valadez, Round 3 (no clip)

Raul Martinez – Rodrigo Guerrero, Round 9 (no clip)

Ivan Popoca – Jesus Soto Karass, Round 5 (no clip)

(As always, clips remain up as long as they are available on YouTube.)

About Tim Starks

Tim is the founder of The Queensberry Rules and co-founder of The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (http://www.tbrb.org). He lives in Washington, D.C. He has written for the Guardian, Economist, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and more.

CHAMPIONS

The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board champions are the true lineal champions of each division, like in earlier years of boxing when there was only one champion per division. For more on lineal champions vs. titleholders, click the "boxing basics tutorial" tab at the top of the page.